Hauk

Open-source location tracking, honestly reviewed. No marketing copy, just what you actually get when you run this on your own server.

TL;DR

• What it is: A self-hosted, PHP-based real-time location sharing service with an Android companion app. Your coordinates go to your server — not Google, not Life360, not anyone else [1].
• Who it’s for: Privacy-conscious individuals and small families who want temporary, link-based location sharing without handing GPS data to a third-party cloud [1].
• Cost: $0 for the software (Apache-2.0). A basic VPS costs $5–10/month, or run it on a Raspberry Pi you already own [1].
• Key strength: Ephemeral by design. Hauk uses Redis or Memcached — not a database — so location data is gone the moment a session ends. Nothing to subpoena, nothing to breach [1].
• Key weakness: Android-only companion app. If anyone in your household uses iPhone, Hauk cannot serve as a family location tool. There is no iOS sender client [1].

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What is Hauk

Hauk is a self-hosted real-time location sharing service built on three components: a PHP backend, a browser-based map frontend, and an Android companion app available on both F-Droid and Google Play [1].

The flow is simple: open the Android app, start a sharing session, get a link. Anyone with that link can watch your position update in a browser — no account, no app install on the viewer’s side. When the session ends, it’s over. Hauk stores location data in Memcached or Redis specifically to avoid persistence [1]. There is no location history by design.

The GitHub repository describes it as “Open-source realtime location sharing,” and that is exactly what it does, without embellishment [1]. At 902 stars and 80 forks, this is a small-community tool — not a market leader — but the numbers suggest active use by developers and self-hosting enthusiasts who care about what happens to their GPS data [1].

The project has accumulated 539 commits from developer bilde2910, includes multi-language translation support, and has an Android app distributed through F-Droid — a meaningful signal for users running a Google-free device stack [1]. The license is Apache-2.0: permissive, commercial-friendly, no usage restrictions [1].

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Why people choose it

The case for Hauk is almost entirely the privacy argument. The commercial alternatives each come with their own data trade-offs:

Google Maps location sharing is free in cash, not in data. Every location ping goes through Google infrastructure connected to the same account that processes your email, search history, and calendar. Google’s Location History feature — on by default in older setups — has been the subject of multiple state attorney general investigations.

Life360 presents itself as a family safety app. In 2021, reporting from The Markup revealed the company sold precise location data to data brokers, including hedge funds and insurance companies, as a core revenue stream. The company later announced it would stop selling “raw” location data, though the business model shift is documented rather than independently audited.

Apple Find My is arguably the best privacy story among the mainstream options — Apple’s business model doesn’t depend on surveillance advertising — but it’s locked to Apple devices and useless if one family member is on Android.

Hauk’s position is clean: you control the server, you control the retention policy, and the retention policy is “nothing is retained” [1]. The session link you share contains no identity. When the session expires, the Redis or Memcached entry is gone [1].

The secondary appeal is session scoping. This is not always-on tracking — you initiate a share, it has a lifetime, it ends [1]. That’s meaningfully different from apps that run continuously in the background and report position to a cloud service you don’t administer.

Note: No independent third-party reviews of Hauk (the location sharing software) were available at research time. The external sources provided during research returned results for unrelated products: hauck GmbH baby equipment, Hauk Off-Road Jeep accessories, and an Indonesian Air Force Hawk aircraft incident. All factual claims in this article draw from the primary GitHub repository [1].

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Features

Based on the GitHub repository and README [1]:

Core sharing:

• Real-time location broadcasting from Android app to server [1]
• Link-based sharing — viewers use any browser, no account or app required [1]
• Session-based with configurable expiry [1]
• Group sharing: multiple devices can share location under a single link [1]
• No persistent storage — Redis or Memcached means data is gone when the session ends [1]

Android app:

• Available on F-Droid and Google Play [1]
• Requires Android 6.0 or above [1]
• Connects to your own server instance — you enter your domain in the app settings [1]

Backend:

• PHP + Memcached (or Redis) for session storage [1]
• Docker image on Docker Hub (bilde2910/hauk) with multi-arch builds for x86_64, armv7l (Raspberry Pi 32-bit), and aarch64 [1]
• LDAP authentication support for multi-user setups [1]
• Scripted install (install.sh) for semi-automated bare-metal deployment [1]
• Arch Linux AUR package (hauk-server) [1]
• Multi-language UI with active community translations [1]

What’s absent:

• No iOS companion app [1]
• No web-based location sender — you must use the Android app to broadcast [1]
• No location history or replay — ephemeral only [1]
• No built-in map tile server — map rendering depends on an external tile provider [1]

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Pricing: self-hosted math

Hauk software: $0. Apache-2.0, no commercial restrictions [1].

Infrastructure: The minimum viable setup is a VPS running PHP, Redis or Memcached, and nginx or Apache. A Hetzner Nanode or DigitalOcean Droplet at $5–6/month handles this comfortably, likely alongside other services. The Docker path is simpler — Memcached is bundled inside the container, so the docker-compose.yml is three lines and the only external requirement is a reverse proxy for TLS [1].

If you already own a Raspberry Pi (the Docker image supports armv7l and aarch64), the ongoing cost is effectively zero beyond electricity [1].

Commercial alternatives for comparison:

• Google Maps location sharing: Free, but location data feeds Google’s ad-targeting infrastructure.
• Life360 Premium: Pricing data not available from provided sources; tier-based subscription model.
• Apple Find My: Free, Apple-only.

The honest math: if you’re already running a VPS for other self-hosted services, Hauk is essentially free to add. If you’re buying infrastructure specifically for Hauk, you’re spending $60–72/year for location privacy. Only you can value that trade-off.

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Deployment reality check

Two installation paths are documented [1]:

Scripted (bare-metal):

1. Clone the repository
2. Run sudo ./install.sh -c /var/www/html
3. Configure include/config.php with a hashed password and your domain
4. Ensure Memcached or Redis is running

Docker Compose: Mount a config directory, drop in a customized config.php, and run the container. Memcached is included in the image — no separate container needed [1]. The compose file itself is minimal.

What’s not handled for you:

• TLS termination (nginx example provided in the README but not scripted) [1]
• Let’s Encrypt certificate provisioning [1]
• LDAP configuration for multi-user setups [1]

The security requirement the README states explicitly: Hauk must run behind HTTPS. The README warns that over plain HTTP, “anyone between the clients and server can intercept and read your location data” [1]. The Docker container exposes port 80 by default — you are responsible for putting a TLS-terminating reverse proxy in front of it [1]. The README also flags that Redis must be “properly configured and firewalled” since Redis without authentication exposed to the internet is a known attack surface [1].

Realistic time estimates:

• VPS with nginx/Caddy already configured: 30–45 minutes
• Fresh VPS from scratch: 1–2 hours
• No prior Linux experience: not recommended without a written guide or hands-on help

Friction points to expect:

• PHP + Redis/Memcached is more moving parts than a single-binary tool. If the cache layer isn’t running, sessions break.
• No Windows or macOS sender app — the GPS broadcaster is Android-only [1].
• Mixed iOS/Android household: Hauk does not work as a bilateral sharing solution.

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Pros and cons

Pros

• Apache-2.0 license. Use it commercially, fork it, embed it in a product, redistribute it — no negotiation required [1].
• No persistent location data. Redis/Memcached storage means there is no database of where you’ve been. Sessions expire and the data is gone [1].
• Multi-arch Docker image. x86_64, armv7l, and aarch64 — a Raspberry Pi you already own can host this at near-zero cost [1].
• F-Droid available. The Android app is distributed through F-Droid for users who want a fully Google-free device stack [1].
• Link-based sharing. Viewers need no account and no app. A URL in a message is sufficient [1].
• LDAP support. Multi-user deployments can authenticate against an existing directory [1].
• Active translation community. Multi-language support suggests real international adoption [1].

Cons

• Android-only sender. No iOS app exists in the official repository [1]. This is a hard blocker for mixed-device families where both parties need to share location.
• PHP + cache stack overhead. More operational complexity than necessary for a relay service. A single-binary alternative would be easier to maintain.
• No location history. Intentional, but a genuine limitation for use cases where reviewing past location matters — delivery confirmation, checking on elderly relatives, field service.
• External tile provider dependency. The map frontend depends on an outside service for map tiles, which partially undercuts the “data stays with me” angle unless you also run a tile server.
• Small community. 902 stars and 80 forks is modest for a mature project. If the maintainer steps away, the fork count suggests limited capacity to carry it forward [1].
• No third-party review coverage. Independent reviews of Hauk are effectively absent from the web. This could mean a quietly satisfied user base, or it could mean the tool has reached a low-growth plateau.

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Who should use this / who shouldn’t

Use Hauk if:

• Your household is Android-only, or you’re the only one sharing location and others only need to view (browser-based viewing works on any device) [1].
• You want location sharing that leaves no persistent trace — real-time only, nothing stored [1].
• You already run a VPS or home server and the incremental service overhead is minimal.
• You want F-Droid / Google-free app distribution [1].
• You’re building a product that needs location relay under a permissive license (Apache-2.0 allows commercial embedding) [1].

Skip it if:

• Anyone who needs to share their location uses an iPhone. There is no iOS sender app and there is no workaround [1].
• You need location history — delivery confirmation, reviewing past routes, fleet tracking.
• You have no Linux experience and no one to assist with deployment.
• You want a polished consumer app. Hauk is an enthusiast tool with a functional but minimal interface.

Skip it (use OwnTracks instead) if:

• You need both iOS and Android senders. OwnTracks ships native iOS and Android apps with a self-hosted MQTT or HTTP backend, and supports retained location history.

Skip it (use Traccar instead) if:

• You need multi-device management, geofencing, history replay, or operational alerts. Traccar is purpose-built for fleet and asset tracking.

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Alternatives worth considering

• OwnTracks — Self-hosted, iOS + Android native apps, MQTT or HTTP backend, location history. The natural upgrade path from Hauk for mixed-device households. Eclipse Public License.
• Traccar — Comprehensive GPS tracking platform with history, geofences, reports, and multi-device management. Better suited to fleet or field-service contexts than personal use.
• Nextcloud + Maps — If you already run Nextcloud, the Maps app offers location sharing inside your existing install with no additional service.
• PhoneTrack (Nextcloud app) — Accepts location data from OwnTracks, uLoggerAndroid, and others. Another Nextcloud-integrated option for users already in that stack.
• Google Maps location sharing — Zero setup, iOS and Android, no cost in money. Data goes to Google.
• Life360 — Consumer-facing family tracking with history and driving reports. Subscription model; documented history of data broker partnerships.
• Apple Find My — Reasonable privacy story within Apple’s ecosystem, but Android users cannot participate as senders.

For the self-hosting-curious but non-technical audience: the realistic shortlist is Hauk vs. OwnTracks vs. staying on Google Maps. Hauk if you’re Android-only and want the simplest path. OwnTracks if iOS matters. Google Maps if setup friction is the dealbreaker and you’ve made peace with the data trade-off.

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Bottom line

Hauk solves a narrow problem well: temporary, real-time location sharing that leaves no server-side record. The Apache-2.0 license is genuine, the Docker deploy is minimal, and the design choice to use ephemeral cache storage instead of a database is the right call for a privacy-first tool. It doesn’t try to be Life360 or Google Maps. It tries to be “share my location right now, have it stop when I say, and keep it entirely on my infrastructure.”

The single largest limitation is iOS. If your use case requires iOS senders, Hauk simply doesn’t work — there is no workaround. For Android-only households or situations where one person shares and everyone else views, it delivers exactly what it promises and costs nothing beyond infrastructure you likely already have.

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Sources

1. bilde2910/Hauk — GitHub Repository (902 stars, 80 forks, Apache-2.0 license). https://github.com/bilde2910/Hauk

No independent third-party reviews of Hauk (the self-hosted location sharing software) were available at research time. The external sources surfaced during research covered unrelated products sharing similar names: hauck GmbH (German baby equipment manufacturer), Hauk Off-Road (Jeep aftermarket accessories), and an Indonesian Air Force Hawk aircraft incident. All factual claims in this review draw exclusively from the primary GitHub repository and README.